This summer, two of the largest vacation rental websites in the U.S. are coming together. HomeAway and VRBO are giving property owners on both websites more exposure and new ways to attract travelers from across the globe. They will remain separate, but now it’s easier and more affordable to advertise on both. We’ve created a website that explains these new opportunities and how you can take advantage of them to give your listings more impact.

What's New:

U.S. Bundle — Get more inquiries by advertising your properties and maintaining their search results rankings on both VRBO and HomeAway.

Global Bundle — Get more exposure by adding our 15 international websites to the U.S. Bundle.

Simplified Levels — As part of this new offer, we’re simplifying VRBO subscription levels, reducing the number of levels from 12 to 5 and automatically mapping each listing to a new level to make it easier for VRBO owners to control their listings’ performance.

Quality Sort Score — VRBO is moving to the same sort method as HomeAway. While your new subscription level will determine your general search ranking, a quality sort score will determine your ranking within that level. The quality sort takes into account seven factors aimed to help travelers easily find and book a vacation rental for their next trip, such as tenure, number of photos and reviews. Tenure will be more heavily weighted, because we realize that it’s important to many customers who have been on the site a long time.

I don't like finding out about NEW changes in policy from these forums.

I don't understand why HA/VRBO can't do some kind of blast email to owners who've been with them (inspite of all the burps and bumps) to let them know they are making changes to their sites,let alone their polcies..

I just checked my VR home area listing. I haven't in 3 days. Very interesting new changes made. I think they are to my benefit, but it's hard to say at this time.

It would be so very nice to know that someone at the helm has some knowledge of Customer Service 101. Has business communication become a lost art?

They did do a large e-mail. I received it yesterday or a couple of days ago. (I didn't save it, so I'm not sure of the date.) It went to my "junk" e-mail even though other e-mails from VRBO go to my inbox. I will wait and see what this new pricing does to the position of my listing on VRBO and the cost. As of now, I only list on VRBO. I am not sure whether advertising on HomeAway will be cost-effective for me. I'll have to see what the pricing structure is and evaluate it.

I also received an email announcement. To get the details, including prices, features, etc., one had to log in using the link provided in the email. There is a slide presentation with 2 or three slides that explains it.

The pricing structure is already set for bundling them both together. It is cheaper than buying each separately if you were to buy the same level in both. I just don't know the exact conversion for VRBO levels. For instance, will my Level 6 now be classified as Silver, Gold or what?

Thank you swlinphx....for being so quick on the keyboard....I was just looking for my email to log in to get the price structure for the folks here. As you have aleady done your renewal and upgrade *separately* very recently, is your account going to be credited for bundle savings (?) ....and do you think the deal works for you? I'm trying to decide whether I should add a HomeAway listing, or not. (I have the highest Level in VRBO....long tenure....been with them since 2001....it is up for renewal at the end of this month...and I am renewing VRBO).

I very recently renewed my HomeAway-HolidayRental.co.uk listing....and that is one of those included among the "international bundle" ...so, now I'm wondering if I buy this NEW "bundle package + the international add-on, will my account be credited for the $$$ I paid for my renewed HA-HolidayR. account that I paid separately for (...and the international bundle includes it). I have to sit down with a cup of coffee for a few minutes to compare all the options.

First, they haven't shown or done the level conversion on VRBO and secondly because I upgraded one property for the remaining 5 months and renewed VRBO for a full year both at the same time last month. I want to get them in sync so they renew the same time each year. I don't know how it will work since my HomeAway last month was an upgrade.

Another thing is I have another property which expired on HomeAway in June and will expire on VRBO next week. When I go to renew both of those together in a week or two I will know more (and they should have it all down with the level conversion then).

I don't like finding out about NEW changes in policy from these forums.

I don't understand why HA/VRBO can't do some kind of blast email to owners who've been with them (inspite of all the burps and bumps) to let them know they are making changes to their sites,let alone their polcies..

I just checked my VR home area listing. I haven't in 3 days. Very interesting new changes made. I think they are to my benefit, but it's hard to say at this time.

It would be so very nice to know that someone at the helm has some knowledge of Customer Service 101. Has business communication become a lost art?

Debj

You're right, it would make it so much easier if they would email their customers. Apparently some people did receive emails, though. Makes you wonder why some did and some did not.

Or at least have ONE blog (as opposed to these announcements all over the place) in a fixed location that we could automatically monitor for changes (I do that for a lot of sites). Then place all their announcements on changes there. In advance would be nice.

I received the email and checked out the new info. It is pretty confusing and there is no place to ask questions, so kind of annoying. My questions are:

1. Why keep both sites seperate anyway? I know they want to get more money out of us by having us pay for 2 sites, or now a "bundle" and I'm actually willing to pay it - fine, whatever. But I would pay it more happily if there was just one freaking site! Or at least if they both had the same search features.

VRBO has much more name recognition - (mentioned far more often in travel articles) - and more listings, at least in Wash. DC but Homeaway has far better search features. Homeaway lets one search by "map view" also by price. VRBO doesn't. That is stupid. There is more competition then ever and we don't need potential guests getting frustrated.

(Actually, Air bed & breakfast has the best search features and photos and generally more beautiful site than either.)

2. Does a traveller searching one site get directed, or at least informed of the other site?

I commented on this in another thread. VRBO is a long-established site from many years ago and was only purchased by HomeAway (a site that is only 5 years old or so) a few years ago, as was VacationRentals.com. HomeAway is the umbrella company that bought these established sites to expand and build their name (and it worked too). They claim each name has recognition so combining them would cause confusion, but I don't believe that because it could be called "VRBO-HomeAway" or "HomeAway-VRBO" for that matter. Mergers happen all the time in business. The point is they make more money by keeping them separate. However, every change they make on a regular basis makes them more and more the same in how they operate, and this new bundle offer is another example. It is strategy for us to pay for both, but at least if we already do it supposedly will save us money (if we choose the same subscription level on both).

As to your answer on number 2, VRBO is listed as a "HomeAway" community so guests may be informed or reminded in that sense, but I do not believe there is a link from each to the other. Has anyone else found one? Cross-linking each to the other might discourage many advertisers to pay for subscriptions on both, possibly with the idea that if they go to one site they will be guided to the other anyway. Keeping them separate from the viewpoint of the traveler helps their business and increases listing sales.

I reviewed the email and the price and level structure, which says based on my current vrbo ad (I'm not on Homeaway) that I am now Bronze level. When I login to my dashboard it still shows I am at Level 8 and also my listing seems to have the exact same placement. Are the new levels in affect yet? Trying to evaluate whether I should bundle, upgrade levels, stay where I am, but it is hard to do without knowing what will happen with my placement if I do. Also, I currently pretty much stay rented almost all year round, so I don't really need more exposure, but don't want to fall further down either. Any thoughts on what to do or what others are doing?

I just spoke with my PM account manager by phone today. It looks like the new VRBO levels and search sort order structure will start next week (or at least before September). We have one property listing we want to renew on both (has expired on both HomeAway and VRBO) but since the bundle isn't in effect just yet and our VRBO expires at midnight tonight we may just renew that at our discount rate then add HomeAway (renew it) once the $249 bundle kicks in.

Thanks swliinphx, I'll just wait til next week to see where the sorting falls out. Also, the email about structure/pricing didn't address the issue of whether we will need to login to respond to inquiries and whether guests will have to create an account to send inquiries. Does anyone know if this is has been resolved or discussed elsewhere?

That is what they have planned for this fall, but it is not implemented yet. There have been numerous discussions about this, but perhaps the most robust debate which is still going on strong is at this link. You can join us if you'd like or read over some of the last few pages of posts & comments.

I received the email and checked out the new info. It is pretty confusing and there is no place to ask questions, so kind of annoying. My questions are:

1. Why keep both sites seperate anyway? I know they want to get more money out of us by having us pay for 2 sites, or now a "bundle" and I'm actually willing to pay it - fine, whatever. But I would pay it more happily if there was just one freaking site! Or at least if they both had the same search features.

VRBO has much more name recognition - (mentioned far more often in travel articles) - and more listings, at least in Wash. DC but Homeaway has far better search features. Homeaway lets one search by "map view" also by price. VRBO doesn't. That is stupid. There is more competition then ever and we don't need potential guests getting frustrated.

(Actually, Air bed & breakfast has the best search features and photos and generally more beautiful site than either.)

2. Does a traveller searching one site get directed, or at least informed of the other site?

I believe they are keeping both sites because of that VRBO name recognition. I've heard of VRBO forever, but had never heard of HomeAway until VRBO started pushing them.

And no, there is no cross-over that I have ever seen ... other than that "VRBO from HomeAway" in the upper left corner. It's like they are two different animals.

I really just want to know how to not receive all these email responses cluttering up my inbox now! I went back to the "discussion" the community site to check for and hopefully change "settings" etc. - I don't want to spend 20 minutes - or even 5 - trying to figure out a service I pay money to advertise on. Here's the deal - VRBO & Homeaway - get your sh*t together and give us one well-functioning site with good continuity and no hassles.

I believe they are keeping both sites because of that VRBO name recognition. I've heard of VRBO forever, but had never heard of HomeAway until VRBO started pushing them.

VRBO did not start "pushing" HomeAway. VRBO and VacationRentals.com were their own companies. We were with them long before there was a HomeAway (in the days of Rentors.org and A1Vacation, CyberRentals, GreatRentals, etc.) When HomeAway formed they bought both of those two. HomeAway rebranded VRBO and VacationRentals but first kept them distinctly different, much as they were before the buyout. Now they have become more and more alike.

When you have a listing on one site it is now synced to get updated on the other; not just the calendar and Reservation Manager payments & bookings, but all edits & photos too. They dropped the rank by number of paid photos on VRBO and are dropping the 12 levels in favor of the 5 that HomeAway has (Classic, Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum). It will operate more and more like HomeAway until there is little difference, especially if you advertise on both.

They are keeping them separate because they make more money that way of course, but if they combined them there would be that many more listings to sort through so one's property might get lost in the shuffle. We actually get as many (if not more) inquiries via HomeAway. Of course, it depends on your region and your sort order on each, with paid level being the biggest factor. Now, within each level both sites will rank the same: based on tenure, calendar last updated, using Reservation Manager, number of photos, etc. The way rates are listed are also going to be the same on each site. The only thing I'm not sure about yet is if they will sort/break down the cities and regions the same way on both, as they are still quite different with our identical listings on each.

Either way, if you advertise on both the bundle option is a signifcant savings (provided you are listing at the same price level per listing on each).

Yes, the reviews are synched. A review on one will show up on the other two. I actually refer my guests to my VacationRentals.com listing to leave a review because they don't have to sign up for an account to do so and the reviews show up on HomeAway and VRBO.

Hi anja... Yes, the reviews are always synced so guests only have to leave a review on either listing. They have been synced for many years actually along with the calendars since the days of rentors.org (now HomeAway Connect) when they were referred to as your Guest Book.

I believe they are keeping both sites because of that VRBO name recognition. I've heard of VRBO forever, but had never heard of HomeAway until VRBO started pushing them.

VRBO did not start "pushing" HomeAway.

Some guys apparently do not get the onslaught of ads that I get — both from VRBO pushing HA and from HA pushing VRBO. It's like they can't figure out that I already pay for both listings, although since they have both been owned by the same company since 2006, I can't imagine why that is such a problem for them. I get a constant stream of ads from both VRBO & HA pushing me to sign up with each other.

So since the above person seems to think this doesn't happen, is this just happening with me? Or does anyone else also get numerous ad emails from both VRBO & HA pushing you to sign up with one another?

...is this just happening with me? Or does anyone else also get numerous ad emails from both VRBO & HA pushing you to sign up with one another?

We have never gotten solicitations to sign up for any that we're not already listed with, but we've been listed with them all since 2004. In fact, when a few of our listings expired this summer we didn't even get expiration warnings or renewal notices and we are not set up for automatic renewal. We get all other notices, inquiries and updates in a timely manner.

My point was that VRBO is not its own company anymore, so regardless of which you are being urged to sign up with, it is all coming from HomeAway if it is for HomeAway.com, VRBO.com or VacationRentals.com.

Don't do it! I "bundled" and upgraded my subscription level 2 weeks ago and my listing tumbled from #30 to #380 in the sort order in my area. I have called and e-mailed HA/VRBO numerous times about the issue and have gotten absolutely nowhere.

Travis - thanks for the response. I hope they actually do something about this, to this point I really feel like I have gotten the run around. It's a critical issue for me, my inquiries have fallen off probably by 75% - after I upgraded and increased how much I was paying. Very frustrating...

OK, I feel like since I made my complaint on this forum I should also report now that the issue has been resolved and my listing is now showing up as it should be. Thanks to Travis and anyone else at HA/VRBO that assisted on this. Much, much appreciated!

Hello - I have listed with VRBO since 2008 - my question is: if I bundle with HomeAway - do I have to build a site on Homeaway or does it populate automatically with the bundle? Haven't been able to find that answer. Can anyone help? Many thanks

HomeAway just started listing unpaid VRBO ads on HomeAway and vice versa just last week. You may wish to read the heated debate on the issue we all had here on the forums at this link.

Whether it's worthwhile to bundle in light of this recent change depends on what subscription level you have on VRBO. If it is high (like Gold) then having that same level on HomeAway for just $249 could be quite beneficial. See where you fall now on HomeAway under the orange bar after the paid listings. That may help you decide. They are making changes constantly, and it really seems like there will be just one mega-site sooner rather than later.